Salvation is a free gift. Free gift should be an oxymoron or redundant
or just words that don’t need to go together; except in this century where we
are used to getting our free gift with the purchase of your new car or if we
only pay $12.99 shipping.
Salvation is a gift from God. We didn’t pay anything for it. We didn’t do a fifty-fifty split with
God. We didn’t even contribute ten
percent. Salvation is a gift and it is
all of God’s doing.
To which we should all cry out,
“Amen!”
Discipleship on the other hand, comes
at a cost. Having received this
fantastic gift of life and life eternal, we must decide if we want life
abundant. Do we want to live in the
fullness—in the completeness—of our salvation.
Jesus said that he came so we could
live this life to the full. He came so
this life could be abundant. Neither
full nor abundant has any connotations that include sitting on the
sidelines.
Today, however, most Christians find
themselves on the sidelines of discipleship.
Casting Crowns has a song that I enjoy called Courageous. It is a song for and about men being the
spiritual leaders of their families, but it should speak to everyone who
desires to follow Christ.
Listen to the words in this stanza.
We were warriors on the front lines
Standing, unafraid
But now we're watchers on the sidelines
While our families slip away
The next stanza invites our hearts to
action:
Where are you, men of courage?
You were made for so much more
Let the pounding of our hearts cry
We will serve the Lord
The climax in this song—and this song
very much tells a story—brings us to action:
We will reignite the passion
That we buried deep inside
May the watchers become warriors
Let the men of God arise
Salvation is a free gift from
God. Shipping and handling are
included. Discipleship comes at a
cost. Jesus puts this in very strong
terms. He said:
If you love anyone or anything more than
me, you can’t be my disciple. That
includes loving yourself and your life.
That’s some strong stuff. Surely Jesus was just kidding. Surely, it’s ok to be like the world and put
a Christian fish on our cars and say we follow Jesus.
The world has never wanted to hear the
truth. For those who hear it and receive
it, there is
freedom that the one
blinded by the prince of this age cannot understand.
The world is looking for a way to have
Christian benefits without actually following Christ. It wants the title to go with their Tee shirt
collection but does not want the discipleship part.
The world wants the Cliff Notes to the
Bible to know what can I get away with and still not go to hell or maybe just
end up in Hell Lite.
The disciple of Jesus Christ seeks
what is wise. The disciple wants truth. The disciple wants discernment on how to be
God’s love in this upside down world.
The disciple knows that following
Jesus comes at a cost. Sometimes that
cost is ridicule. Sometimes that cost is
loss of acquaintances. Sometimes that
cost is loss of a job. Sometimes that
cost is the loss of life.
We are blessed that most of the time,
we don’t risk our lives; but the times they are a changing. Even in America, people want their ears
tickled these days. People want salvation without discipleship.
As I understand our theology, in
theory, they can have it. In professing
that Jesus is Lord they are saved from hell.
They dare not call themselves Christians for that connotes that they
also follow Jesus. Christian means that
we belong to and follow the Christ.
Paul described people who received the
gift of salvation and then do not build wisely upon this foundation as one escaping
the fire, as one running
out of the flames. He has nothing to
show for his life. It is as if he ran
out of a burning house with only the clothes on his back. He is saved but without anything to show for
his life in Christ.
What a pitiful creature. The modern world is full of people claiming
to be Christian but who have firmly planted themselves on the sidelines or in
their recliners and declared themselves to be judges and critics. It is a comfortable place to be but wholly
inconsistent with being a disciple of Jesus Christ.
But do I really have to hate my
parents and brothers and sisters and kids and even my own life. In a dichotomous world, the answer is
yes. Understanding that Jesus often used
hyperbole, let’s say that you can’t love anyone more than the Lord and still be
his disciple.
Jesus doesn’t have any lukewarm, just
sit and take the notes teaching. He is
very provocative. Why?
He is calling people out of death into
life.
Paul
writing to the church in Corinth,
said that he wished everyone could be like him and not feel the desire to be married. He said if you must, then you must, but life
gets more complicated.
Paul was not a very good marriage
counselor, but he was an excellent discipleship counselor. If it’s just you and the Lord, that’s a
simple relationship. If you add a
husband or wife and then kids, things get
more complicated. It gets harder and harder to keep God first.
Following Jesus comes with a cost.
But what about, “My yoke is
easy and my burden is light?” Jesus does not ask us to do things that are
heavy burdens. He calls us to follow
him. He calls us to speak the truth. He calls us to love one another. He calls us to be his disciple.
What Jesus asks of us is not beyond
what we can do, but the world may hate us for it. What the world hates more than anything else
is the truth for the truth disrupts the comfort zone of the world. Warren Wiersbe once said: “Truth without love
is brutality, and love without truth is hypocrisy.”
There is a cost to following Jesus.
Jesus made some analogies. The king considers the cost before he goes to
war. If he has 10,000 soldiers and the
enemy has 20,000 soldiers, he may wisely decide to negotiate a peace before any
blood is shed.
If you just start building and don’t
plan and budget properly, you may have the best-looking foundation in town but
be the laughing stock of where you live because that’s as far as you are going
to get.
Jesus gives these simple analogies to
say, if you want to be a disciple, then it’s all in or nothing. There are no probationary periods. There is no sitting on the fence. It’s all in or it’s nothing.
OBTW—all in comes at a cost.
Earlier in
Luke’s gospel, Jesus described
some encounters with would-be disciples.
One man wanted to follow but has funeral arrangements to make. Another just wanted to say some good byes
first. It seems that people always have
something to do that gets in the way of following Jesus.
I will follow when I get around to it
but I’m probably not ever going to get around to it.
If you were saved from sin and death
by the grace of God that you know in the blood of Christ Jesus, then you were
made to be a disciple. If you received
this wonderful gift of salvation and have not responded with discipleship, your
life is like salt without saltiness.
What good is it.
Salvation
without discipleship is like salt without saltiness.
Yes, you have been saved from your sin
and from the wages of sin which is death and you have this gift of eternal
life, but you won’t follow the one who made a way for you to live.
For those who are in this boat—or on
the sidelines or in their recliners just sitting this life out except for the
occasional commentary or condemnation of those who are following—why do you
want eternal life? Why do you want
eternal life?
The gods that you have made for
yourself in this life are not going to be there for you in the age to come, and
you are not going to have anything to show for how you responded to God’s mercy
and grace.
Why do you want more life with God if
you won’t even live this one for him?
For the most part, I am preaching to
people who are not here. For most of you
have responded to God’s grace with discipleship. Your responses are not all the same. Some serve and some lead. Some preach and some teach. Some help in many unnoticed ways.
Some just give out hugs. Some visit and comfort. Some cook and clean. Some stop and help a stranger on the side of
the road.
All these things are part of following
Jesus, of being his disciple. But you
also share the gospel. You will not deny
him.
Some of you have lost friends because
of this.
You speak the truth in love. Some are angry because the truth is not
popular these days.
You love the unlovable. Some are angry about this and look down on
you because they knew they should have done this and didn’t. It seems easier to ridicule than confess.
Some neighborhoods in larger cities
won’t let you knock on a door and tell people that God loves them. In some you can’t even leave a gospel. People like being protected in their comfort
zones.
Some people like to go to the mega
churches where you don’t have to know anyone.
They want the worshiptainment without the connections.
But you, you have sung and lived the
words, I have decided to follow Jesus,
you know the cost of being a disciple.
For those who have sung, the world behind me, the cross before me,
you have affirmed that you have considered the cost.
And when you get to the verse, though none go with me, I still will follow,
you know that you will pay the cost whatever it is. There is no turning back.
And when we sing, will you decide now to follow Jesus, you know that being his
disciple makes you connected to everyone you meet by the gospel of Jesus
Christ. Sometimes the cost of following
Jesus—of being his disciple—is knowing that you have delivered the truth, the
gospel of peace, the way to life, and people have not heard these precious
words.
People have not responded. Sometimes the cost of following Jesus is
persecution and ridicule, but sometimes it is the hurt that comes when people
remain blind to the truth or do not have ears to hear.
Sometimes the cost of following Jesus
is to know that they are comfortable with the god of this age and do not want
to hear the truth of the God we know so well, who is love.
Why would we want to pay that cost? Why do we want the hurt, and ridicule, and not
being able to put ourselves first every once in a while?
Maybe, because we get to be a part of lifting
the chains of oppression.
Maybe, because we understand that the truth
indeed sets you free and that must be shared.
Maybe, because our hearts break for those
who are perishing.
Maybe, because we comprehend just a little,
how much love God poured out for us on the cross.
Maybe, because we have eyes to see and
in our clarity, can see no other valid choice than to follow our Master and Savior
and Friend.
You who have decided to follow Jesus
know all these things to be a part of life abundant.
·
God’s glory and
human pain
·
Truth and
blindness
·
Following the
Master and watching on the sidelines
These things and more frame this thing
called life.
Be thankful that your salt is
salty. Be thankful that you are on the
playing field and not in the stands or in your recliner.
Be thankful that the One whom you profess
before men is doing the same for you before your Father in heaven and all the
angels are witness to it.
Be thankful that you have considered
the cost, picked up your cross, and are following Jesus.
Be thankful that you are his disciples
indeed and you know the truth and it has set your free.
Be thankful that for this short time
on earth, you will endure whatever comes at you as his faithful disciple,
knowing that for all eternity you will know his joy and rewards.
We know that one day having run
our race and fought our fight, we will hear “Well done, good and faithful servant.
You have done well with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Come
and share your Master’s Happiness.”
I am thankful and privileged to walk
with you as we follow Jesus as his disciples.
For you know what I know; that salvation is not the finish line but the starting
blocks.
And in the race ahead of us that we call
discipleship, sin and death have no say in our eternal destination. Life eternal is our promise from God; but in this
time that we have now, we choose to live abundantly as his faithful disciple.
We have considered the cost, we have
each picked
up our cross, and we follow
Jesus.
Amen!
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